THE NEWSLETTER OF THE
FORT BEND ARCHEOLOGICAL SOCIETY
An affiliate of the Fort Bend County Museum Association
500 Houston Street / Richmond, TX 77469
281-342-6478 / FAX 281-342-2439
________________________________________________________
July 2015
Next Meeting: Tuesday, August 18th at 7pm
“China’s Lost Civilization: The Mystery of Sanxingdui”
Archaeologists have always been interested in the emergence of civilization in China. Scholarly interest
has traditionally been focused on the supposed core-area of Chinese civilization—the Central Plain of the
lower Yellow River valley in northern China. For example, the Shang Dynasty, a Bronze Age culture
dating to approximately 1600 BC, was centered in modern Henan Province. Very little academic
attention was directed to regions outside of the Central Plain. A discovery made in 1929 slowly changed
all this. In that year, a farmer named unearthed a number of jade and other stone items while digging a
well. Excavations carried out over the next 80 years have yielded evidence of an
advanced, bronze making culture. The absence of any writing associated with this
evidence results in us still referring to “The Mystery of Sanxingdui.”
Dirk Van Tuerenhout, will present this fascinating and compelling story that coincides
with an exhibit currently at the Houston Museum of Natural Science. Dr. Van
Tuerenhout is an expert in human cultures, Curator of Anthropology at the Houston
Museum of Natural Science, an incredible communicator, and is well versed in
archeology and anthropology.
Tuesday, August 18th at 7pm @ in the Assembly Hall of the
Gus George Law Enforcement Academy
1521 Eugene Heimann Circle / Richmond (Next to the FBC Justice Center)
crogers@fortbendmuseum.org / 281-342-1256
Interested in getting involved and uncovering Fort Bend history?
Bob Crosser reported that have secured Principle Investigator, Dr. Jason Barrett
to supervise the excavation of the Lamar cistern. Friends of the Fort
Bend County Historical Commission have voted to help support the
project and the Fort Bend Archeology Society will be doing much of
the work. Please contact Robert Crosser at mgcrosser@att.net if you
are willing to help.
86th Annual Texas Archeological Society Meeting
October 23 – 25 in HOUSTON
The 86th Annual TAS meeting is coming to Houston this year and HAS is one of the regional
sponsors, along with BAS and FBAS. The meeting will be held at the OMNI Resort and Hotel at I-10
and Eldridge Parkway on October 23 – 25. This meeting is a really big deal, folks, and we are going
to need help on so many fronts over the next couple of months to make it a huge success. We
really need you to mark this event on your calendar and plan to participate!
The Local Arrangements Committee, made up of representatives from all three regional societies,
has been meeting for several months and we’ve laid the groundwork for the meeting which
includes workshops, seminars and meetings focusing on archeology in Texas all afternoon Friday
and all day Saturday, a fabulous Public Forum on Friday evening followed by a public artifact
identification, a Book Fair, silent auction and raffle, the annual Banquet on Saturday night, and lots
of visiting in between with 350 – 400 of the finest avocational and professional archeologists in the
State of Texas. You can find more information about the annual meeting on the TAS website at
http://www.txarch.org/Activities/AnnualMeeting/am2015/
We can use your help. As I said, we expect at least 350 – 400 people from across the state to attend
this event and all of them will get a bag of goodies from our area. Do you deal with a business or a
museum or a bank or a store that could provide approximately 400 pencils, pens, rulers, brochures
or other items advertising their businesses? We’d love to stuff them in our welcome bags.
Please register for the event either online or by mail at
http://www.txarch.org/Activities/AnnualMeeting/am2015/ and click on the registration tab. If
you have any questions, please email Linda at lindagorski@cs.com.
Houston Archeological Society
Lecture: Testing the Atlantic Ice Hypothesis: Comparing Solutrean and
Clovis Blade Technology – Dr. Tom Williams
Dr. Tom Williams, a researcher with the Prehistory Research Project (formerly the Gault Project) at
Texas State University, will present a program on Solutrean and Clovis Blade Technology at the
August 20th, 2015 meeting of the Houston Archeological Society. The meeting will begin at 7:00
p.m. in MD Anderson Hall at the University of St. Thomas. The meeting is free of charge and open to
the public.
Linda Gorski, President, Houston Archeological Society | www.txhas.org
Archeological Reconnaissance Survey at Lake Somerville Complex.
As you may be aware, the greater Houston area, received record rainfall in April, May, and June that resulted in
severe flood damage at a number of our state parks. Lake Somerville was one of our properties that was hit
hardest by these flood events. As the water slowly recedes from this park it has become apparent that many
archeological sites may have been severely impacted. TPWD will need to make an assessment of the damage that
has occurred to all of the numerous cultural resources within this park. While a 100% survey of roughly 8,700
acres is not possible, we will need to survey all camping loops, all trails, and all exposed beach. This is still a lot of
ground to cover. TPWD will bring in some of the other Regional coordinators and the survey team, but in order to
expedite this survey we are still in need of extra eyes on the ground.
Tentative dates are August 24-27. We will only need at a minimum 12 volunteers and maximum 18 bodies for this
endeavor. We will sign up the first 12 to 18 people and then that will be all. If you are interested, please contact:
Ruth A. Mathews
Cultural Resources Coordinator
Texas Parks and Wildlife Department
State Parks, Region 4
14200 Garrett Road
Houston, TX 77044
Office: 281-456-8266, ext 236
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Fort Bend Archeological Society
c/o Fort Bend Museum
500 Houston Street
Richmond, TX 77469